


Romani Resurgere

by Linorien



Series: 007 Fest 2016 [9]
Category: Ghostbusters - All Media Types, James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), James Bond - All Media Types
Genre: And then this happened, Ghostbusters AU, I'm just so excited to see the new movie, Its a bit longer than expected
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2018-07-25 11:49:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7531639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linorien/pseuds/Linorien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>London has been plagued by a recent increase in electrical surges. It disrupts science experiments, tube journeys, and, apparently, the dead.<br/>An unexpected alliance is formed between a bored secretary, a crazy IT tech, an ex-army man, and a disgraced professor. It will be a race against time to see if they have what it takes to fight off the living dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Who Am I Gonna Call?

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Rise again
> 
> Thanks to [Sven](http://svengooliecat.tumblr.com/) for editing this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updated with edits: 4/16/18

 [](https://imgur.com/b3RNSjm)

Q reluctantly packed his few boxes of tech and piled them into the Uber. He’d been fired, again, and he didn’t feel like starting a job search right away. Besides, who in their right mind wanted to hire a pyrotechnic inventor with too many degrees and no people skills. Or at least no respect for technologically inept people. He couldn’t help snarking off to the higher ups and it wasn’t his fault that his latest invention caught fire.

There had been a sudden electrical surge that had overloaded his circuit. Sparks were flying everywhere, Q tried to unplug the power strip but it shocked him and his expanse of curls on his head managed to turn into spikes to make a metalhead proud. Totally out of his hands.

It wasn’t his fault that the parts he ordered were more flammable than the packaging claimed. He did put it out fast. Just not before the smoke alarm was set off and the whole building had to evacuate.

Maybe staying at his flat would be good for a while. At least there he had modified the smoke alarm settings so that they didn’t go off every time he was soldering.

 

Passing below Q in the tube at that very moment was another man who was now without a job. Professor Tanner was on his way back to his home in west London from Birmingham City where he used to teach ancient history. He was laid off because he was spending too much time on his research and not enough time with his students. Apparently, just assigning reading with mandatory ritual sessions was not good teaching. They would forever remember the strange ritual the Greeks had for their festivals though. His students were sad to see him leave (they all knew Tanner couldn’t be bothered to read their papers and thus gave everyone high marks) but were glad they would no longer be required to attend his weird monthly rituals and could go out drinking instead.

Unlike Q, Tanner was actually glad he was laid off. He had enough money saved up from familial inheritance to devote some quality time to research without having to worry about where his next meal was coming from. He could even afford a research assistant. And with that thought, he drafted an ad to place in the papers.

 

_Wanted: Scientist to assist testing theories about the connection between recent electrical anomalies and supernatural activity in central London. Must have knowledge of E &M and be willing to work odd hours with a historian who doesn’t know science. Contact Bill Tanner for more info. _

 

Q read over the ad once more. He wasn’t sure what had caused it to catch his eye over breakfast, but something had. He wasn’t doing anything important right now, he did need money, and it sounded like an adventure. A quick search on Bill Tanner revealed him to be a respectable academic, if a bit odd. Certainly no hint of knowing science like he said. What the hell. He picked up his phone and called the number.

 

Within three days, Q and Tanner had met and traded information. They met near Q’s flat on the edge of zone two. Q ended up being less of a research assistant and more of a partner once they met and talked over a few beers. Q started to see the real science behind what the professor was trying to do and Tanner bowed to his tech knowledge. Turned out it all had to do with energy transfer and properties of polarised light.

And so it was that on this 29rd of August, Q and Professor Tanner were visiting the Tower of London. They both had messenger bags filled with sensors about the size of a CD. Q had designed them to detect the ambient electrical field. A short range signal would be sent to Q’s laptop where a program would notify them of any unusual spikes.

They agreed to meet every day for the next week in Tower Hill Park. They set up camp there and worked on other projects while the program ran. Tanner was searching the internet for other records of ghosts being connected with electrical surges and Q was looking into a way of containing the ghosts, if there was any. He was still a bit skeptical on that front.

It was Wednesday night when the sensors got a spike. However, Q didn’t get the notification until the next morning. “Look at this beautiful chart,” Q said, spinning his laptop screen so that the professor could see. The voltages had stayed steady most of the day until they began to oscillate, rising as they went.

“And when do you get the notification?” Tanner asked.

“I originally had it set up to notify me when the voltage had doubled, but looking at this, I can lower the threshold so that we have more of an advance warning. I hadn’t realised how few fluctuations there actually are.” _No wonder he didn’t usually have to account for unexpected surges in his experiments_.

“This looks like a pretty steady pattern here, very regular.”

Q moused over the chart and it informed him that there was a nearly constant oscillation period of 3.13 seconds. After a bit more data analysis, he set to work adjusting his other programming. His first priority: boosting his signal to get the notifications on his phone. Fortunately, their luck shifted at five o'clock in the afternoon

“I’ve got something again,” Q said as he pulled up the full program on his laptop. Tanner slid over to look. “See here, it’s building just like last night.” They looked towards the tower and noticed the sky was growing darker too.

“I didn’t think it was likely to rain today.”

“No more likely than any normal day in London.” In agreement, they packed up their other work and hurried over to the Tower.

Soon they were fighting upstream against crowds of tourists fleeing the other way. The winds were picking up too and Tanner was getting notifications from social media about what they were seeing.

When they were on the main walkway, the howling started. They hardly noticed it over the wind at first, but the moans grew steadily louder. It was a sound hitherto only heard in horror movies. The gusting wind was creating a cyclone over a tower walkway and stretching out towards the stone below. As soon as it touched down, they knew the damage would begin in earnest. Tanner started recording on his phone. A vaguely human figure could be seen in the clouds, slowly descending to stand atop a wall.

Layered above the howls, a booming voice began speaking in a foreign tongue. By now nearly everyone was gone. Only a few people remained close to the walls. One man seemed to be trying to speak to the apparition.

He seemed to be challenging it. Q and Tanner moved closer.

“Go back to where you belong,” he yelled over the wind. He sounded almost exasperated. The moans grew louder in response. “That's not going to scare me off. I've lived through worse.” More howls and an extra gust of wind. “Oh for fuck’s sake.” The man now whipped out a small gun. “This is something to be afraid of.” Without saying anything more he shot the spirit on the wall. It went straight through where the heart would have been. This time there seemed to be no response from the elements. The man seemed satisfied.

Except Q had one eye on his phone. And while there was no audible response, the electric field was rapidly building. A barely discernible glow was growing in the centre of the cloud and Q did the only thing he could think of doing.

“Get down!” he barked. Something in his voice made the stranger duck without hesitation, a bolt of lightning shooting over his head instead of hitting his heart. “This way!” Q yelled again and the three of them sprinted back to the park.

As he ran, Q realised two things. First, he was not in shape. He could feel his heart pounding and his lungs beginning to burn.

Second, this whole running thing would’ve been easier if he didn’t have a laptop banging against his leg. Naturally he worried more about the computer than himself.

“It looks to be fading,” the stranger called out in an infuriatingly even voice. Q glanced behind him. Sure enough, the figure up on the wall was becoming less distinct and was no longer yelling. But the sky was still dark and the wind was still howling, so they kept on running.


	2. Leave the Science to the Nerds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the ghostbusters have assembled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have not seen the new ghostbuster movie, please do see it. It far exceeded my expectations and I laughed the entire way through.  
> Updated with edits: 4/16/18

“Okay, I didn’t before,” Q said as he collapsed on the grass. “But I believe in ghosts now. Or apparitions, or whatever the hell you want to call them.”

“That wasn’t quite how I’d hoped to convince you, but I guess it works,” Tanner responded, also sitting down on the grass. 

“You guys were searching for that thing?” Q looked up at the stranger, who was still standing and didn’t look out of breath at all. The sky was brightening up again, but against the clouds he cut an imposing figure. He wore a casual suit, if that was a real thing, and had close cropped blonde hair. His brow was furrowed as he inspected Q, perhaps wondering why he instinctively followed his orders.

“Not exactly,” Q replied. “The professor here had this idea that the electrical surges could be related to supernatural forces, but he needed a scientist so I joined.”

“Q’s been invaluable. Deserves way more than I pay him.”

“Don’t you have better things to be doing?” he asked.

“Don’t you have better things to be doing than shooting at clouds?” Q retorted. “It’s not solid. What good did you think it would possibly do?”

“I didn’t see you doing anything to get it to leave.”

“I was collecting data so I can build something that will trap them.” He waved his phone. “But I was interrupted by your idiotic decision.”

“Enough!” Tanner interrupted them before they started truly fighting. “What’s your name?”

“Bond. James Bond,” he said without breaking from the staring contest he was having with Q.

“Mr. Bond, we could use someone like you on our team.” That got both of them to look at him.

“What?” they questioned in unison.

“We don’t have anything to fight off these spirits yet, true, but once we do we will need someone to wield it. You stood up to the apparition today with nothing more than a gun that was useless against an incorporeal creature. We need that bravery.”

“Recklessness,” Q muttered.

“I can’t offer a lot,” Tanner spoke over him. “But if you would be interested in joining us, we would be honored to have you.”

Bond thought for a moment before looking back at Q who ruefully nodded. “You can see for yourself that I’m not nearly as in shape as you are. I’m an IT guy, I don’t do fighting.”

Bond’s face broke into a wide smile and he held out his hand to Tanner. “Then I’d be glad to join you on this adventure.”

 

The great ghost adventure gained Eve Moneypenny a few weeks later after she saw the website Q started to document their findings and collect data from the public. Apparently, secretarial work was not keeping her brain occupied. She contacted them and joined the team with a whirlwind of ideas on how to fight them off. Including the need to have a permanent base in the heart of London instead of just meeting in a park. 

They began meeting in the old, now abandoned, part of Aldgate East tube station. It was off limits to the public and it was rare that film crews used it so Q set up fake signs and mocked up official looking documents to misdirect anyone who might investigate. It was well protected from the elements so Q was able to install a permanent computer system to monitor their findings and the long tunnels provided a testing range for the weapons he was working on. It was a good thing too, because more corporeal ghosts were manifesting with increasing frequency as November progressed. 

With more data collection points around the city, Q was able to send the other three to where the spirits were manifesting just as it was starting. Thankfully, the events only occurred within the ancient City limits and a few mopeds sufficed. Bond and Eve were given the prototype weapons, while Tanner stayed slightly back to videotape the event.

Currently, Q was back in the tunnels while the other three occupied the Museum of London. They were spaced out along one of the outdoor walkways that overlooked some ruined towers. Eve was covering Bond from the waif-like figures hurling bricks as he climbed higher on the roof of the museum. The weapons Q had supplied them with didn’t work well against these spirits, but they did still deflect projectiles. The high winds fought against them, but the dark sky helped hide their activities from the authorities. 

Climbing public buildings wasn’t generally permitted. But then again, Bond never cared much for civilian rules. He grimaced as he pulled himself up to the top of the roof and stood, only to hurriedly duck as a spear flew at him.  _ Where had they gotten...oh.  _ The weapon returned to mist when it hit the roof. 

“Q,” Bond asked, knowing the other man was listening in on all of the earpieces he gave them. “If a spear made of mist hits you, how much will it hurt?”

“It's still a spear until the energy fuelling it runs out.” He paused in his typing. “Why?”

“Because these spirits apparently have that kind of energy!” Eve yelled as she fired her weapon again then rolled to avoid a small dagger. 

"Are the tasers working?" Q asked as he heard the weapon deploy over the headset. 

"You need a better name for these," Eve responded. "These make a taser feel like a pin prick."

"They certainly push the spirits back, but they aren't leaving," Bond added. He fired, destroying a brick that was heading in the professor’s direction. 

"Any signs of weakening?"

"No. Not on these."

"It worked the last few times, why not now? Notice any differences Tanner?"

Tanner needed to be called again before he responded. Bond could see that he seemed to be preoccupied with his phone. "What? Sorry, yes. These ones seem to be speaking Latin. It's a bit hard to understand with the ghostly distortions, but it sounds like Latin. The last few didn't seem to have any speech beyond moaning."

"And you think that makes a difference?"

"They could have different origins or different types of energy," Bond mused as he dodged another projectile. 

"Leave the science to the nerds, army man," Q snapped. "Aim for the gargoyles on the building. They seem to be drawing power from there."

Bond and Eve adjusted their aim accordingly. They hit the creatures and the spirits seemed to weaken. Immediately the winds died down and the spirits left with only a few more electrical bursts needed. 

"How did you know to aim there?" Eve asked as they collapsed their weapons and tripod and slung them over their shoulders. 

"CCTV. Finally got it."

“You hacked the security system of the city?” Bond asked in disbelief.

“Way to go Q!” Eve cheered, fist punching the air as they rode.

“I do not pay you nearly as much as you are worth,” Tanner muttered.


	3. Closest Approach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they solve the mystery

Back in their underground bunker, Q loaded up the videos of the previous events and Tanner narrowed it down to the times he remembers the spirits spoke Latin. Q enhanced the audio as best he could before transferring it over to the Tanner to try to translate.

Meanwhile, Q returned to the data that he had collected. He wasn't sure where to start with his analysis. He went back to the lessons learned from reading too many  _ Sherlock Holmes  _ novels: when in doubt, put it on a map. 

On another screen he created a new Google map and began plotting the events they had personally attended. The gps coordinates of every event formed different coloured points. He tried to organise it by date, but that didn't show anything. 

“Which ones had Roman ghosts?” 

Q jumped. He hadn't noticed Bond’s approach. “You need a bell around your neck,” he muttered. 

“What's that?” Bond smiled. 

“I said you need to be patient while I adjust the colour ranking.” A couple keyboard commands and the Latin events were now in red. Eve also approached and joined them in their quest for a pattern. 

“Check with Tanner,” Bond began, “but I think at least some of these correspond to places of importance in Roman times.”

“I know the Tower was built where the Romans had a small fortress,” Eve added. 

“Let me see if someone has a map online.” Q pulled up another tab and began hunting for maps of Londinium. There were many that showed the [boundaries of the Roman city overlaid on a modern map](https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1d5e03HbW5yve8bGrtdr2nSIHVvA&hl=en&ll=51.51251359810925%2C-0.08597722219838033&z=15), but none were as detailed as he would have preferred. They did at least confirm Eve’s theory that the location of the Tower of London was significant even in the Roman era. Finally they conceded that the internet did not have what they needed. “Tanner?” he called over his shoulder before spinning on his stool.

He looked up from his notebook. “Yes, Q?”

“Do you know where we might find a detailed map of London from the Roman era? The internet doesn’t have one detailed enough.”

The professor closed his notebook, pencil marking his place, and walked over to join the rest of the team. “What are you trying to figure out? I might be able to help some just from memory. If not, UCL might have some. I can ask a colleague there.”

“Q has put all of the points of apparitions on the map here,” Eve explained. “The ones in red are the ones where you thought the ghosts may have been speaking Latin.”

“It is Latin,” Tanner confirmed. 

“So now, we want to know how many of these places had some significance in Roman life.” Q pulled up the best map they had found. “This one only shows a couple locations, but there must be a better one in an archive somewhere.”

The professor leaned in closer. “I can’t say for certain where, but the Romans usually built their barracks into the city walls. That could explain this cluster along London Wall. Smithfield Market has been a market for a long time, perhaps back to the Roman era, don’t quote me on that.”

“Guildhall was built on an arena, right?” Q asked. “I think I remember visiting there on a school trip.”

“So only two years ago,” Bond quipped. A sharp elbow shot back to stab him in the gut.

“Yes,” Tanner confirmed. “I have a friend who helped work on that exhibit.”

“What about this cluster over here?” Eve pointed to a small cluster on the map near the gherkin.

“I don’t know. We will have to consult a map for that one.”

“Can you email your colleague then? The attacks are becoming more frequent, we need to figure this out soon. Maybe we will be able to predict where more sightings will occur. Is there any reason why they might be increasing in frequency?”

The others thought hard. It was past Halloween, and they doubted that would be of interest to the Roman ghosts. As far as they knew, there wasn’t any other calendar that had a date in connection with the dead around this time. Then suddenly Professor Tanner remembered what he couldn’t believe he had forgotten. 

“Of course!” He smacked a palm to his forehead. “Saturnalia!”

“What about Saturn?” Eve asked. 

“Saturnalia,” the Tanner explained while pacing the floor. “It’s a week long celebration of the Roman God Saturn. Usually it falls around December 17th, which is soon. It’s the biggest Roman festival of the year. I cannot believe that slipped my mind.”

“But what’s different about this year?” Bond raised a good point. “Why isn’t this a problem every year?”

“I might be able to answer that,” Q said slowly. He gestured to the main monitor. Replacing the map was an article from space.com. The headline read:  _ Closest Approach of Saturn in 26 Years This December _ .

“But this seems to say that these events would have happened twenty-six years ago, and I don’t remember anything of the sort,” Eve says.

“Neither do I,” Tanner adds.

“Q’s too young to remember that far back,” Bond grinned. The others smiled as Q stabbed the man in the arm with his mechanical pencil. “You wound me. I’m going to get lead poisoning.”

“You can’t get lead poisoning from graphite you imbecile,” Q muttered. “Yes, it’s the closest approach in twenty-six years, but the previous perigee was not on December 17th. It hasn’t even been in the month of December for over one hundred and fifty years.” He paused to let that sink in. “That was before electricity became commonplace in the UK. And as we have seen, these spirits need that extra electrical power to become substantial.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like Q, I tried to search for a map that had what I needed. [This was the best I could find.](https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1d5e03HbW5yve8bGrtdr2nSIHVvA&hl=en&ll=51.51251359810925%2C-0.08597722219838033&z=15)


	4. Ghostbusters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The media reaction

**November 15th - blogs.lbs.edu/OurBusiness - an excerpt**

Recent strange weather patterns have been in the local news lately, with many claiming that there are ghosts in the clouds. Like most of us, I was skeptical of this. Or rather I was until I too saw them.

Only two days ago another of these freak storms descended over the Museum of London while I was visiting with a friend. Within minutes, there were two people along the old walls of the city, seeming to be fighting clouds. I didn’t see figures at first, but then one broke away from the rest of the grey and there was no mistaking it. I wish it didn’t short out my phone, because even I have trouble believing what I saw. 

This ghostly figure raised it’s arm and a spear formed. I assumed it might be mist and not a danger, but then it threw the spear at a tourist further down the wall. They stayed still, thinking like I that it would do no harm. The scream shook me. The spear reverted to mist after hitting the tourist, nothing substantial, but the blood pouring down the arm of this man was not. 

Panic broke out and I was swept up with everyone running away. As I looked back over my shoulder, there were still two civilians, soldiers really, who remained and seemed to be shooting light into the clouds. I do not know who they are or how they were fighting, but when I made it out onto the street again, they were gone and the sky was clear. 

 

**November 17th - The University Paper - an excerpt**

The Ghosts of Tower Bridge

Is London being slowly invaded by cybermen from another dimension or were those real ghosts? Just when we thought this year couldn’t get any weirder, people keep reporting sightings of ghosts and claim to be hearing ominous chanting in the night. 

Just yesterday, another freak thunderstorm struck tower bridge. This time it was undeniable that something supernatural was happening. The police were on the scene to direct people away, but even they were beaten by three mysterious individuals who drove onto the bridge on mopeds and stopped at the guard tower. 

I’ve been teased before for always carrying binoculars, but on this occasion everyone envied me. From a safe distance away I could watch the fight play out. 

 

**November 23 - The Telegraph - an excerpt**

In a moment reminiscent of the blitz, once again citizens of London stood on top of St Paul’s Cathedral to defend it from destruction. Only this time they were not chasing off grenades and putting out fires. They were fighting ghosts.

Atop the shining dome, two heroes stood, firing what looked like lightning from portable weapons. At this moment, we do not know the specifics of their weaponry, but it appears to be effective in repelling the spirits in the storms. 

Who are these mysterious ghost fighters? Are they themselves some spirit?

 

**November 30 - The Times - an excerpt**

Professor Tanner warns the public that if you should notice a sudden darkening of the sky, running away is your best option. “We are Londoners,” he said. “We like to think the rain will roll right off our backs, but in this case the rain has spears. And as we know from history, the Romans were nothing if not persistent.”

Tanner continued to explain that the ghosts that are most powerful do communicate in Latin. He says that they mostly yell about reclaiming the land that is theirs and demanding our surrender. Although their insults and threats do no harm, these spirits appear to be able to create weapons that do real harm.

“We don’t understand how that works, our scientist, Q, is working on a theory, but we are focusing more on staying alive than collecting data, much to his disappointment,” Tanner teased. 

This is another mention of the mysterious fourth member of their team who goes only by Q. The team is scheduled for an interview on BBC Breakfast next week, but there is no word yet on how many will be there. When pressed about it, Tanner only said they had not decided yet.

 

**December 1 - CNET - an excerpt**

Q: The spirits draw energy from the electric field. This means any electronic devices that are powered on. Airplane mode won’t cut it, they need to be off.

Anthony: And what about systems than cannot be turned off? Life support systems or security networks?

Q: Unfortunately there is not much we can do. There is a temporary firewall that reduces the energy draw, but it is not compatible with all systems. I’m only one person. 

Anthony: Could we help in any way?

Q: Actually yeah. The code is open source, if anyone can improve it, please do and share it. 

Anthony: Tell us about these weapons you have created to fight off the ghosts. 

 

**December 3 - BBC Breakfast**

“In the last few weeks, ghosts, storms, and Romans have been what everyone is talking about.” Trina smiled wide into the camera, greeting the viewers with her cheery voice. “London even seems to have it’s own team of ghostbusters, fighting to defend the city from these supernatural threats. They’ve been almost more elusive than the spirits themselves, but we’ve finally summoned them into the studio today for an interview.”

“Yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen,” John continued. “All four are here today.” They both turned to face towards their guests, each seated on a stool at the glass table. “Good morning all of you.”

Tanner, Eve, and Bond each said “Good morning” and “Thanks for having us” while Q simply nodded. 

“Now normally we would show footage of you fighting off these ghosts, but that’s proven difficult,” John continued. “Every camera seems to malfunction near the events. What can you tell us about that?” He looked toward Q, but it was Eve who answered.

“That’s correct. The spirits draw their energy from electricity and so they drain power from any electronic device that’s in the vicinity. It’s curious and not every device responds the same, but it’s understandably frustrating.” Eve leaned a little closer and smiled. “I’ve had to start leaving my phone at home and I cannot tell you how strange it feels.”

“And yet you have these weapons that fight off the ghosts. Witnesses have said it looks like you are shooting electricity back at them.” Trina glanced down at her paper. “We have gotten many questions from interested viewers who want to know what these weapons are.”

Bond took this answer. “They are plasma guns actually. It looks like lightning so I understand the confusion. But the key feature is the negative charge. It works to cancel out the energy of the spirits.”

“Or sometimes it works best on vessels that seem to be holding the spirits of the dead,” Tanner added. “Often nearby statues are linked with our Roman history and this gives the spirits extra power. In this case, discharging the weapon at the statue works as well as any grenade to destroy them.”

“Is there any sign of this letting up?” John asked. “Or will all of London’s statuary be in danger?”

“We can’t say for certain, they are growing stronger at the moment, but my research indicates that activity will peak around December 17th. That week marks the ancient Roman holiday of Saturnalia. We think this is the event that’s causing this unusual activity,” Tanner explained. 

“That’s an annual festival, right?” Trina checked her notes. “Why is this the first time we’re seeing this usual activity?”

“Unfortunately we can’t ask the ghosts to be sure, but Q is the one who realised that Saturn is going to be approaching closer to earth than it has in over a hundred years,” Eve explained after a quick glance at Q to confirm that he still didn’t want to talk. She continued to explain what Q had briefed them on earlier.

Q still wasn’t sure why he had consented to join them this morning. Not only was it far too early to wake up (not that he hadn’t just stayed up all night), but he didn’t particularly want to be on TV. He preferred being far away from the spotlight of attention. He vaguely recalls them saying that they would try to keep the attention away from him, but they wanted the whole team to be there because it was a team effort. And he thinks Bond promised to treat them all to breakfast at the expensive cafe Q liked.

Unfortunately, the next question was directed explicitly at him. They wanted to know how he knew where to send the others so quickly. “Tell us, Q, what advance warning system do you have?”

“There are sensors that read the electrical system of the city and tracks large scale oscillations,” he said quickly, his voice remaining more steady despite his sweaty palms. “I track it and read the oscillations that indicate a growing spiritual presence.” Q looked back down at his lap. 

The was a short pause before the hosts recovered. “Well we are nearly out of time, but before we let you get back to protecting London, is there anything else you would like to tell the public?”

Bond looked straight into the camera to answer. “If you see sudden dark clouds growing above you, turn off your electronics and get far away. The danger is very real and we can fight them off faster if no one is around to be hurt. Above all, we want you to be safe.” He finished with a winning grin. 

“Yes, remember to leave this to the experts,” John said. “Coming up next, we will give you the headlines of this morning, but first, a look at the weather and it looks to be a cold one.”

“Better get out those knit hats, John.” Trina smiled teasingly and the camera cut to the other studio.


	5. Saturnalia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day is here.

December 17th was suspiciously quiet for the for the first day of Saturnalia. Bond and Eve’s nerves were wound tight with tension and by noon Q had to order them to take a long run around Hyde park to burn off some of their energy. They came back too soon and were on Q’s nerves the rest of the day. 

The next morning came early for Q. His notifications told him of a growing oscillation in the electric field. The pattern was different than the others; the largest amplitude yet. Q sat up in bed and pulled his computer onto his lap, opening up the full program. 

It was still too early to accurately pinpoint the epicenter, but Q texted the others to wake them up and tell them to get to the river. They had a bit of time, so Q showered and made breakfast before catching the tube and walking the rest of the way to their underground base. As usual, he simply pushed aside the gate and walked through as if he belonged. 

He sat down at his desk and plugged in his computer. He pulled the tracker positions of Tanner, Bond, and Eve on his second screen. Bond was near the Tower of London already. He must’ve been already awake. Eve and Tanner were still in transit. 

Q looked back at the program to track the electric field. The oscillations had grown more frequent. He tried running the tracing algorithm again. This time a location was identified. Q tapped his bluetooth.

“Looks like it is centered at Bank station,” he reported in. “Get there and start clearing people out. I’ll alert TfL.”

Bank station. Of course it was here. Where better place than the center of the city. Tanner said it was where the Roman forum used to be. It was the common gathering place, everyone from all walks of life came to the forum whether it was for government, for the market, or to socialise with friends. 

And it was also the place for tourists and Londoners alike to be passing through in the morning. It was easy to send a signal to the trains that there would be no stopping at Bank station, but it was harder for Bond and Eve to clear the people. Everyone had somewhere urgent to be and why would they listen to strangers?

But ten minutes later, the clouds grew dark. 

 

“Q, I thought you said you shut down the station,” Bond groused as he tried to direct more people away from the open area. They were resistant at first, but he pointed up at the sky and more of them got the message. But there were still more people coming up from the underground.

“I did,” Q replied tersely. “But Bank is one of the largest stations. I can’t shut down every entrance. People are still going to use the tunnels as a shortcut when walking. You’d know that if you actually took the tube.”

“Why would I want to be around all those people?” Bond replied. 

“Guys,” Tanner interrupted. “Looks like they are starting to form up in front of Wellington.”

“You lot figure it out on your own then,” Bond muttered as he left the people and jogged toward the royal exchange, pulling out his plasma gun as he went. 

“I’ll take the ground if you take the roof,” Eve said, already standing on the steps, plasma guns in both hands, her shield leaning against a pillar. The shields looked a bit ridiculous, little more than a children’s toy, but Q had reinforced it with bits of steel he found around the abandoned station. 

“Got it.” Bond changed directions and leapt onto the windowsill of the London executive offices. He scaled the old brick, finding easy hand and foot holds. He heard Eve fire her weapon once before he pulled himself onto the roof. Now that one spirit broke through the veil, they all came. 

 

Eve fired her weapon at another ghost. The recoil vibrated up her arm and she smiled. It was like playing the best video game. She was hunting ghosts with a custom weapon that she couldn’t actually believe was real. She felt a stir in the air behind her and shot another ghost. The blue electricity sparked across it’s form and dissipated back into mist. 

To the left, another one. There were a lot, but they were easy. One shot was all it took. “Are these too easy?” Eve asked as she took down another three in rapid succession. 

“They seem that way,” Bond replied. He picked off another that was approaching from behind her. 

“Speak for yourself.” Tanner sounded out of breath. 

Eve looked to where she had last seen him. He was still standing by his moped, trying to keep the ghosts away from him so he could read his screen. He was probably trying to translate more of the yells. “Are they saying anything?” Eve asked. 

“Not these ones,” Tanner said. “Q? Any measure on strength?”

Eve heard Q’s rapid typing over the earpiece. “Growing weaker as people move further away and turn off electronics.”

“Doesn’t seem like they are getting weaker,” Eve replied. 

“I don’t know,” Bond said. “From up here it looks like there might be less of them than there were before.” He could see the empty streets and there didn’t seem to be as many touchdown points where ghosts were spawning. 

Then the clouds shifted. They started to rotate faster, centering above the war memorial. The remaining ghosts were shocked out of existence by Eve and Bond and no more formed. Above them, the clouds became a tornado. 

The vortex crept inexorably downward. Slowly lengthening and whipping up more wind. Eve was glad she had braided her hair this morning. 

“I suspect you know already,” Q said into their ears, his voice calm and almost flippant. “The talkers are coming.”

“Don’t suppose you have anything to counteract a tornado, do you Q?” Bond asked. 

“Only what you already have. Better brace yourself.”

Just as Q spoke, the tip of the vortex crashed into the concrete and everything shook with the shock. Bond braced himself on the flagpole and only just managed to stay upright. “Tanner? Eve? Alright?”

“I’m good,” Eve replied. 

Tanner groaned. “Yeah. New crack in the screen of my tablet though.”

“Welcome to the club,” Q replied bitterly. 

The vortex widened, tearing up the concrete and flinging pieces across the streets to slam into buildings. Bond ducked as one flew over his head. He stayed crouched, relying on the others to be his eyes. 

“Well shit,” Eve said in a soft voice. “Here come the officers.”

“Any plans?” Bond asked, knowing full well the answer. He heard the spirits scream something in Latin. 

“Death to the opposition,” Tanner translated, not needing to wait for his software on that one. 

“Same plan as always,” Eve said. “Fire on my count. 3...2...1!”

Bond spun to his feet and was firing before his conscious brain even registered what it saw. He stalked closer to the edge, aiming with greater accuracy, while also looking around for any source of power to destroy. 

Ghosts exploded into mist and some stayed intact. The ghosts started fighting back. Javelins formed out of the clouds and launched toward the fighters. Bond slapped the bracer on his left arm and the small shield snapped out, ready to deflect any projectiles. Shaped like a ten bladed fan, it allowed for Bond to move his arm through the air with less resistance, but still protect himself.

Bond fired shot after shot, but still they kept coming. Like a bad video game, the ghosts took forever to die and there was no indicator of their strength level. Bond ran along the roof, firing constantly and deflecting the hurled spears. He looked for a pattern in their ranks. If he could find some sign, any sign of weakness, they could turn the tide. 

He saw nothing. No obvious Roman statues of emblems. Or at least none more obvious than anything else in this city. Ghostly figures seemed to step out of every pillar lining the plaza. He heard a sharp gasp from Tanner and glanced down only to realise he had moved too far along on the roof. 

“Tanner?” he asked quickly, looking for a way of the roof. He would be of more use on the ground where he could see both Eve and Tanner. 

“Just a scratch. I’m fine,” he replied. 

“Can you see any pattern up there?” Eve asked.

“None. I’m coming down. Q’s going to have to be our eyes.”

There was silence on the line while they waited for the boffin’s response. “Q?”

“Right, sorry.” Q blinked and shook his head briefly to focus on his friends again. His fingers flew over the keyboard. “No clear patterns of energy detected from the software either. These are the strongest we have faced but I can’t update the weapons remotely. I’m afraid it might be a long fight.”

Q barely heard their acknowledgment. He had returned to staring at his map of the city overlaid with the data from the electric sensors. After the recent press, locals and small businesses had reached out to ask about getting one of Q’s sensors. When he explained he didn’t have enough resources to build that many, electronics classes around the city built their own and donated them to Q. To help protect the city, they said. 

Thanks to their efforts, Q’s map was almost good enough to not need the base layer. The sheer amount of data could provide the basis for multiple thesis projects. But what kept catching his interest, was not the huge energy drain where Tanner was. Instead it was an unusual energy signature near Blackfriars bridge. It looked like enormous amounts of energy was being manifested and poured into a single small point on the bridge. 

The energy drain stopped and for a moment, there was a complete absence of energy on the bridge. But only a moment. 

A huge energy surge lit up all the sensors and flared bright on the map, overloading too much to triangulate the energy signature. When it faded, a concentrated ball of energy was moving quickly across the map. It was more powerful than ten of the Roman generals and it was headed straight for Bank station. 

“Guys, just a heads up,” Q said, trying not to sound a worried as he felt. “There might be something bigger heading your way.”

“That’s not acceptable, Q” Eve said, breathing hard. “We aren’t making any headway here. I need you to do something.”

Q’s eyes widened. The large circle of energy was now followed by ten, now twenty smaller balls of energy. They were right, he had to do something. He wished he knew what.

 

Tanner raised his shield and blocked a spear that was hurled from across the street. Perhaps hiding behind the statue of Greathead wasn’t the best place, but he didn’t have many options. It did mean that he was the first to notice the new army of ghosts coming up Queen Victoria Street. 

He took a breath to warn the others, bit something made him pause. It was the shape of the ghost. Unlike the Romans in their armor, this figure appeared to be bigger, more defined, and most striking, wearing a voluptuous dress. Weilding a sword and wearing a glittering crown, Tanner laughed when he realised what he was seeing. 

“Q, don’t worry, the something bigger is here to help.” 

She came charging into the battle, a small battalion behind her. She shouted, “For God and for England!” and sliced the head off a Roman soldier. 

“What is it?” Q asked.

“Queen Victoria is here.”

Tanner smiled in delight as he heard the others question him. He didn’t have to wait for Bond and Eve to notice though. The British soldiers with their gleaming medals and tall boots invaded the square and it was hard not to notice them. 

The tide of the battle swiftly turned in their favor. Eve and Bond stood back to back, firing at any ghosts trying to flee and cause damage elsewhere. Queen Victoria’s troops were ruthlessly efficient at eliminating the ghosts. A single stab with a blade and the Roman vanished into mist. 

Within minutes, there was only one Roman general left intact at the tip of Queen Victoria’s sword. Tanner, Eve, and Bond walked closer. 

“You have lost,” the Queen said, her voice ringing with power. “London is no longer a Roman city. I will not have this happen again. I will personally stand guard. Do you understand?”

The general spat at her feet and cursed her, but she only sighed and slashed her sword through his ghostly neck.

The plaza was suddenly silent. The distant sound of drums and horns on the wind ceased and the wind ceased howling. The clouds began to life and the plaza became brighter. 

Before the sunlight completely washed out the ghosts, Queen Victoria turned to the three fighters. “Thank you for faithfully defending the city. I shall take over from here. They shan’t bother you. I shall ensure you receive the knighthoods you deserve.”

And with a nod of her head, she and her soldiers vanished. 

They stood staring at the place where they had last seen the long dead queen, not quite believing what they had seen. 

“Ghost of Queen Victoria,” Q said slowly. “Who’d’ve thunk?”

Eve laughed. “Got any theories on how that one came about, Q?”

“Actually I might have an idea of who to ask,” Tanner said, sounding mildly displeased. 

Bond and Eve turned to see what he was looking at. A group of twenty young adults on bikes were standing near the entrance to the underground station, watching in amazement. Tanner strode over, the other following in his wake. 

When they got closer, on of the older ones immediately said “Professor Tanner! That was awesome!” The others agreed, large smiles on their faces. 

Tanner only crossed his arms. “What did you do?”

“We asked Queen Victoria for help. We know we couldn’t help fight, but it was clear that just the four of you wasn’t enough.”

“Aww, they remembered you’re part of the team, Q,” Eve joked, trying to diffuse the tension that was growing. 

“I would expect better from you, Amy. But only because I am curious, how did you ask?”

“You taught us the ritual for asking ancestors for protection,” she explained. “And the Queen is a symbol of the city so she is like the ancestor of the city. We got together to tweak the wording a little and then just waited for the next big fight.”

Tanner looked at the group of his former students. They weren’t all from the same year and a couple weren’t even from the same uni as the others. Teaching Ancient History, you assumed most of your students would never remember what you taught them past the final. Yet here were twenty three students who came together to recreate an ancient ritual and update it for their own purpose. He really couldn’t stay mad for long. He let out a long sigh. 

“If I was still your professor I would give you all top marks for the term. As it stands, I can only thank you for your help.”

  
  


In the next few weeks, the team stayed alert, waiting for signs of ghostly activity to fight off. When mid-January rolled around, they begrudgingly started looking at job ads. Q packed up his technology from Aldgate and put it back in his flat. They used to meet for drinks on Friday nights, but more often conflicts came up and soon their group chat history was pushed out of the saved memory. Q never completely turned off his monitoring software, even after he got caught up in a new job, one that embraced his inventive skills. After all, they were now knights of the realm. He had proven that they could defend their city and he would continue to do so until the next team of ghostbusters came along. But until then, he would await the call.

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> My beta has informed me that not everyone is familiar with the London tube zone map. Q being in zone 1 means he is basically in central London. Here is a [zone map](https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?dg=feature&msa=0&mid=1eIjWEQyO-PchgJUttxBBkYqvPxE) for anyone who is interested.
> 
> I'd love to hear any comments on the story thus far. Leave them below or find me on [tumblr](http://spiritofcamelot.tumblr.com/). My message box is always open.


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